[RV250] Creating a new log-in/X-session with desktop effects enabled results in a garbled new session

[Andreas Modinos]

Binary package hint: xorg

This bug report has been revised because some of the originally described symptoms were in fact of another bug.

Steps to repeat:

1. Create two user accounts
2. Log in as one or the other
3. Attempt to switch users by selecting the other user's name or by selecting 'Switch user...' from the power menu.

What happens:
I get a screen with corrupted graphics that does not respond to input other than showing mouse movement (cursor is a huge block instead of a pointer). See attached screenshot for more details. If I use Ctrl+Alt+Fx key kombo I can succesfully switch back to my working X-session, but all new log-ins attempted will be garbled.

What should happen:
I should either get a login screen or the screensaver password dialog for the other user!

Work-around: disable desktop effects for the user initiating user switch or creating new log-ins.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: xserver-xorg 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-21.32-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-21-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Sun Apr 18 12:36:36 2010
DkmsStatus: Error: [Errno 2] Tiedostoa tai hakemistoa ei ole
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Alpha i386 (20100224.1)
Lsusb:
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 002: ID 413c:8000 Dell Computer Corp. BC02 Bluetooth Adapter
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: Dell Computer Corporation Latitude D600
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
 Socket 1:
   product info: "O2Micro", "SmartCardBus Reader", "V1.0", ""
   manfid: 0xffff, 0x0001
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
 Socket 1:
   5.0V 16-bit PC Card
   Subdevice 0 (function 0) [unbound]
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=99ec916b-a551-4e75-85d2-60d165d6e870 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=fi_FI.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: xorg
dmi.bios.date: 06/29/2005
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
dmi.bios.version: A16
dmi.board.name: 0D2125
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellComputerCorporation:bvrA16:bd06/29/2005:svnDellComputerCorporation:pnLatitudeD600:pvr:rvnDellComputerCorporation:rn0D2125:rvr:cvnDellComputerCorporation:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Latitude D600
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: lucid
 architecture: i686
 kernel: 2.6.32-21-generic

[Andreas Modinos (blueturtl)]

This is the corrupt screen I get when attempting to switch users.

[Andreas Modinos (blueturtl)]

Culprit seems to be the desktop effects: I noticed that switching worked one way from the user who had desktop effects disabled. Once I disabled the effects for both users, I can now switch back and forth between them reliably.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Based on the description of the symptoms, it sort of sounds like this might be caused by an incorrect AGPMode setting, which is relevant when DRI is enabled. You should test if changing this makes the issue go away.

For KMS configurations, agpmode is a kernel module parameter. Enter the grub interface during boot and append radeon.agpmode=X to the kernel boot line, where X = -1,1,2,4,8

1-8 are the agp modes,
-1 uses the onboard gpu gart (PCI, PCIE, etc.)

For details about this with UMS (non-KMS), please see the "ATI AGP Mode Quirk" section at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Quirks

[Andreas Modinos (blueturtl)]

Tried with the radeon.agpmode parameter. I discovered that the default setting on my system is 4.

None of the tried settings (-1, 1, 2, 4) did anything to the but I noted that the graphics corruption was different with the -1 setting.

I noted a couple of things in my dmesg that I am not sure are important:
First, it says that it detects 64M of VRAM and later says that 32M of VRAM is actually ready.
Secondly, the aperture size stays at 128M for all agpmode settings except -1, when it changes to 512M.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Forwarding this bug from Ubuntu reporter Andreas Modinos:
http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/565835

[Problem]
Corrupted graphics and lockup when doing user switching with compiz enabled. With compiz disabled it freezes with a black screen.

[Original Description]
Steps to repeat:

1. Create two user accounts
2. Log in as one or the other
3. Attempt to switch users by selecting the other user's name or by selecting 'Switch user...' from the power menu.

What happens:

I get a screen with corrupted graphics that does not respond to input other than showing mouse movement (cursor is a huge block instead of a pointer). See attached screenshot for more details. If I use Ctrl+Alt+Fx key kombo I can succesfully switch to any of the text mode terminals, but will have 2-3 corrupt graphical terminals in range F7-F9. One terminal will host an unresponsive gnome screensaver dialog, one a blank screen with an arrow, and one the corrupt graphics or just a blinking text cursor. The blank screen with the arrow is the working x-session, because it will take commands. For example I was able to reboot by doing a Alt+F2, then typing gnome-terminal, then typing sudo reboot and then typing my password and hitting enter.

What should happen:
I should either get a login screen or the screensaver password dialog for the other user!

Tried with the radeon.agpmode parameter. I discovered that the default setting on my system is 4.

None of the tried settings (-1, 1, 2, 4) did anything to the but I noted that the graphics corruption was different with the -1 setting.

I noted a couple of things in my dmesg that I am not sure are important:
First, it says that it detects 64M of VRAM and later says that 32M of VRAM is actually ready.
Secondly, the aperture size stays at 128M for all agpmode settings except -1, when it changes to 512M.

A couple of times, what has happened since I disabled Compiz is that the screen will remain black with only the cursor visible. It seems to happen quite randomly, or at least I have not been able to detect a pattern.

DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: xserver-xorg 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-21.32-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-21-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Sun Apr 18 12:36:36 2010
DkmsStatus: Error: [Errno 2] Tiedostoa tai hakemistoa ei ole
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Alpha i386 (20100224.1)
Lsusb:
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 002: ID 413c:8000 Dell Computer Corp. BC02 Bluetooth Adapter
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: Dell Computer Corporation Latitude D600
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
 Socket 1:
   product info: "O2Micro", "SmartCardBus Reader", "V1.0", ""
   manfid: 0xffff, 0x0001
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
 Socket 1:
   5.0V 16-bit PC Card
   Subdevice 0 (function 0) [unbound]
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=99ec916b-a551-4e75-85d2-60d165d...

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Created an attachment (id=35264)
XorgLog.txt

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Created an attachment (id=35265)
CurrentDmesg.txt

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Created an attachment (id=35266)
BootDmesg.txt

[Andreas Modinos (blueturtl)]

I'm going to have to correct myself a bit here: turning off desktop effects clearly helps, but does not eliminate the problem entirely.

A couple of times, what has happened since I disabled Compiz is that the screen will remain black with only the cursor visible. It seems to happen quite randomly, or at least I have not been able to detect a pattern.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Andreas Modinos - I've forwarded this bug upstream to http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=27819 - please subscribe yourself to this bug, in case they need further information or wish you to test something. Thanks ahead of time!

[Andreas Modinos (blueturtl)]

I registered to the FreeDesktop BugZilla, but am unfamiliar with it's interface. There is no subscribe button anywhere on the bug page... is the CC field the same as carbon copy from email?

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Andreas, yes that's right.

Another idea, if you uninstall gnome-screensaver does the issue go away? If so then this is probably a dupe of bug #546578

[Andreas Modinos (blueturtl)]

You know what... it's not a duplicate, but I am in fact suffering from two bugs.

Removing gnome-screensaver allows me to get back to the working X-session (formerly known as the blank X-session with only an arrow visible). However the new log-in is still corrupted if using Compiz.

[Andreas Modinos (blueturtl)]

This bug became pretty simple after all the testing (sorry about the flood of updates).

All sessions initiated from sessions without Compiz running turn out ok, and can be switched back to.
If you create a log-in from a user who has desktop effects enabled, the new session will be corrupt no matter how many times you switch between them.

[Brandon (drafnel)]

Affects me also, on Maverick 10.10.

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV370 5B60 [Radeon X300 (PCIE)]
01:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV370 [Radeon X300SE]

I had tried disabling desktop effects on first user, which allowed
switching to a second user. Trying to log in as a third user
produced corruption again. I didn't think to disable desktop
effects on _all_ users. That will probably work around this
issue until it is fixed.

Could this be related to Bug 656235?

   https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/656235

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Andreas Modinos, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p xserver-xorg-video-ati REPLACE-WITH-BUG-NUMBER

Please note, given that the information from the prior release is already available, doing this on a release prior to the development one would not be helpful.

Thank you for your understanding.

Helpful bug reporting tips:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Original reporter hasn't responded to downstream request since 2014, and is using an EOL release.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

As per https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=27819#c4.